The Dark Prince

The Dark Prince pt. 2

Before anyone came the next morning, Jungkook was up and ready to confront his new visitor. If you were going to care for him, he had better get to know all about you. He couldn't have some random stranger be assigned to him. His biggest fear was that he'd end up killing you without his knowledge. It seemed the curse favored few people, and beyond his parents, he wasn't sure who would have this mercy. He was never told more, only knowing that the curse was carried through his bloodline.

That's why he'd been holed up in the tower all this time just as his uncle had been until his death. Many said it was natural causes, but Jungkook always knew it was from heartbreak. His father, just like many Jeons before him, all carried the curse, but it was always one male that physically exhibited it. If that male married, his curse would become darker and when he finally did look upon his wife, she would run screaming with her body already halfway out of the window. So it was decided to keep them from ever marrying, never having true love. None of the Jeon's really ever experienced love for that matter. The cursed ones were always locked up and put away, the secret shame of the family, only lies associated with the Jeon name. Jungkook's own mother married the king out of fear of death, but she held a greater fear knowing that she would bring an abomination into the world with a king who's bloodline was tainted. His father pined for her love, but even to this day she felt nothing for him, after all, what queen loved a man they were arranged to marry - even less a cursed one.

Even still Jungkook was born, his own father unable to have children somehow miraculously passed on his curse once more. To say the queen was beyond upset at the knowledge that she carried a cursed child was an understatement. Jungkook didn't spend much time with them even as a child, but he knew she didn't love his father. No woman ever loved a Jeon.

One thing he knew was that his red eyes were a dead give away of the evil within him, and that if anyone looked straight at them, they'd be corrupted by the evil there. Yet no cursed Jeon male was ever able to control this. The problem was, that when he had someone's soul in his power, the evil thoughts swarming in his head always wanted death...always demanded it. He speculated the evil didn't affect those within his bloodline, but he couldn't explain the nanny. The generations before him had been lucky, sisters being born into the family were able to care for their brother without being affected. He, however, did not meet the same fate. He never understood how she had never been affected, and he hoped that her daughter would be the same.

Glancing in the mirror, he adjusts his now long hair, his curls unruly and disobedient. He knew you wouldn't even see him, so he felt silly, but it was important that he made a good impression. The day before he'd ruined everything with his curiosity. It wasn't his fault after all. He couldn't help that he'd been locked up since he was a child having only been in contact with his parents, caregiver, and perhaps a guard once every few years. A new person was too much to process, and the fact that you were young just like him....and free. You probably lived your life happily, walking about carefree, taking in the sights of nature all around you. He envied that of you. You were obviously told to come to the tower as your mother's successor, but why? Was your freedom stolen because of his parents?

In a way he was glad you were told to come. It felt like a sort of punishment for you to be here since he never knew about you in the first place. Why hadn't your mother entrusted him with this information? Had she lied and been afraid of him just like everyone else? He never got that feeling from her, but it did hurt to know that she didn't share with him the one thing he considered to be important to her.

The creaking doors, a sound he'd become all too familiar with, signals your entrance. Jungkook waits by his door where he expects you to slide food through any minute. He couldn't help the way his body vibrated, his bottom lip trembling in his determination to hide his emotions. He hated how he was always so sensitive to things and that his face gave him away. In some ways he was glad the gilded tower he called home served as a barrier from being hurt by the people outside. Even the ones he's let in have managed to hurt him regardless of his fortress.